Virginity, usefull or not? Options

Is there any magickal use in virginity? Or at least in females, considering the entire fuss religious traditions make over it?

I've been wondering about this for a while and I can't seem to find anything relevant to the question that isn't biased by our christian heritage. There's a good bit of magick centering around sex, but I'm reluctant because the opposite might be just as true. I'm loath to just have sex for shits and later discover a branch of magick that specifically asks for this!

Does anyone here know something about such a system? Or how the hymen virginity relates to energy? I vaguely recall one of the grimoirs asking for a female practitioner to also be a virgin.

In Roman mythology Vesta was the Goddess of virginity, home and hearth - very highly valued ideals in Roman society even though Vesta was a minor deity. Priestesses of Vest were known as Vestal virgins. These were mostly women brought up to be entirely pure from an early age - no drinking no vice in general, especially sex. When they were of age these virgins would devote at least 20 years of their lives to the service of the temple. If a Vestal virgin had sex, or was proven to not be a virgin, she would be either entombed and fed through a small hole for the rest of her life, should could be burned alive or drowned. Chastity was a very serious aspect to these Priestesses. If you wanted a blessing from the Goddess Vesta, her temple or her priestesses is where you would look to. Again she was mainly concerned in matters of purity, home and hearth.

To me, Al Zaines description is pretty much what comes to mind when I think of the magickal implications of virginity. here is a difference between virginity and chastity. A virgin is simply one who has not had sex or found a suitable man to mate with. Some who has vowed chastity (like a nun), yet may not be a virgin, but as a statement to their devotion to their patron deity, they refrain from all vice - especially sex.

Personally I can see virginity as a potent tool in working with entities that require the utmost purity for their magick. On the other hand, from a Wiccan perspective, the great rite - or sexual union that symbolizes the merging of divine feminine and masculine energies - is considered one of the most powerful rites a Wiccan can undergo. Also while I can see good reason to vow chastity I believe one is seriously inhibiting their personal growth and self discovery if they do not have sex ever in their life. I think sex can be just a potent tool as chastity.

i think, in terms of purity, that virginity is often equated with youth. if i were to compare the powers behind being a virgin, versus being chaste, versus being young and not jaded...i think the last is the most powerful, and yet the most fleeting. the second is more deliberate and therefore more focused/concentrated, and the first is simply a characteristic; a coincidence.

i am not saying that states of mind aren't powerful...and certainly there is a state of mind virgins can claim. But as far as the current world standing on virginity is, i doubt virginity is considered anything but a passive state of being. i don't agree at all. but then...lol. i'm a virgin.

(and wd all like to think we're virgins by choice) lol

but as long as we're looking at gods, lets look at one of the most powerful goddesses out there: Artemis (Diana). virgin goddess of the hunt, of young maidens, and ironically enough of birthing women. But is it ironic? i think virginity is an integral part of the cycle. And she is often ignored in the face of lovely Aphrodite. Did you know that Hera, after making love to her husband every night, would bathe in a fountain that restored her virginity?

As for my name's sake, look at the Valkyrie's role in virginity. Virginity wasn't a characteristic it was a state of mind. None wedded in their time, and if they did they lost their powers. (im not saying they didn't have sex...but remember, virginity was used in looser terms back then.)

Bridget, also, is considered the bride. She is an aspect of regeneration after winter. Along those lines, i have no doubt that virginity can be used in certain forms of magic, and rituals.

let me also state, that as a woman, i consider virginity and the loss of virginity a rite of passage. How a woman chooses to celebrate it is totally up to her; it is her privilege.

as for male virgins? i got nothing, sorry...male virginity is so much more understated then ever woman's "virtue" was.